National Bike Summit

Scenes from the 2013 National Bike Summit

Cycling Is for Everyone

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One of the week’s most inspiring presentations came from Representative Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), an Iraq War veteran who lost her legs in 2004 when the helicopter she was piloting was shot down. She’s since completed three Chicago marathons on a hand-cranked bicycle.

“When I was in the hospital, I made a commitment to my buddies who saved me and didn’t make it back that I would enjoy life as much as I could, and do things I’d never done before,” Duckworth says. “Cycling represents my commitment to never giving up.”

Duckworth praised bike advocates for their work in improving public health (“the most expensive diseases [like Type 2 diabetes] are also the easiest to treat”) and urged those who promote cycling to also think of the disabled, whether that's by “keeping a $50 plywood ramp by the door” so a wheelchair-bound cyclist can enter a bike shop, or creating bike-path entrances that are accessible to those who can’t navigate curbs or stairs. People with disabilities, Duckworth says, “are so often isolated. Biking levels the playing field—it allows us to connect.”